ECD 04

Chapter 4

Everything Changed After I Died

* * *

“Now, let me hear your story.”

After everyone had left the meeting room, Grandfather’s voice finally echoed through the quiet room.

After Chloe and the vassals had left, Grandfather had asked to speak with me alone.

It had been a very long time since the two of us had faced each other like this.

“Irene, you seemed different from before today.”

The answer to Grandfather’s question was simple.

Because I’m a different person.

But would he believe me if I said that?

“A lot of things have changed.”

I answered vaguely, avoiding a direct answer, but Grandfather slowly nodded while stroking his grayish beard.

“Yes. Deborah dying so suddenly…”

Grandfather often stopped in the middle of his sentences, but this was not the head of the family I knew.

The man who seemed like he would never be shaken no matter who died or disappeared was visibly disturbed.

‘Do you think becoming the heir of Mergen is such an easy position?’

‘There are hundreds of people you will be responsible for. Become more serious.’

‘Are you going to say you’re struggling over something like this?’

That was the person who had always pushed me so hard.

But it was not because Grandfather was soft toward Irene.

Grandfather knew nothing but the family, so he neither pitied nor treasured Irene.

He had simply stood by and watched even when the vassals looked down on her.

Had he simply become weak-hearted because one of his granddaughters had died?

“Your granddaughter died too, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to carry the stigma of being the murderer who killed my sister, either.”

“……”

At the very least, I wanted to clear Irene of being a suspect.

Whether I continued using this body forever or Irene’s soul suddenly returned.

Even if Irene really had killed me.

“I have no intention of becoming the heir. No, I know that I’m not in a position where I can become one.”

“That’s…”

Everyone knows that.

“So please, just protect this fragile life of mine. You can protect me, can’t you, Grandfather?”

I deliberately called him Grandfather.

For a moment, complicated emotions crossed his face.

“Protect me from my stepmother.”

I was already dead.

Wanting to live like before in this body would be foolish.

After becoming Irene, I could clearly see the swamp I had struggled in without even realizing I was trapped in it.

What had I been thinking when I risked my life for something as meaningless as becoming the head of the family?

What meaning was there in ruling over a place crawling with filthy insects?

Mergen was nothing more than a shiny apple that had already rotted from the inside.

If you poked it—or even just squeezed it—it would burst and maggots would spill out.

Without me, even that shiny shell called Mergen would disappear.

“If you want me to leave this place, I’ll leave. So…”

“……No.”

Grandfather stopped me as I said I would willingly leave.

“You don’t need to leave this place.”

“……What?”

“Why should a member of the Mergen bloodline run away?”

I could not hide the frown that formed between my brows at Grandfather’s words.

Was he planning to use Irene now that Deborah was dead?

“Do you really think it is right for Chloe’s child to become the master of Mergen?”

“……”

Apparently, Grandfather was even more obsessed with bloodline than I had thought.

Or perhaps he was simply testing me.

But my decision was very easy.

I shook my head.

“I can’t do it.”

I meant that I had no desire to walk into that hell again with my own feet.

Silence fell after my firm answer.

Grandfather simply drank the tea in front of him.

We made no promises, nor did we bring the conversation to any conclusion.

* * *

After finishing my conversation with Grandfather, I returned to my room and fell asleep.

My strength had completely run out before the evening had even begun.

How long had I been asleep?

I opened my eyes with a headache.

As soon as I regained consciousness, a terrible thirst came over me.

“Ugh……”

Just turning my body made me let out a groan.

With a body like this, simply getting through one day seemed like all I could manage.

“Ha.”

It was then, as I pushed back the hair that had fallen over my eyes.

A strange feeling filled the dark room.

Someone is here.

I instinctively reached under the pillow.

Damn it.

But what I had failed to consider was that this was not my room.

There was no dagger that I always carried beneath Irene’s soft pillow.

I shifted my gaze to the bedside table.

The only thing there was a flower vase.

Keeping myself as alert as possible, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Who are you?”

The moment my voice came out, two figures hiding in a blind spot revealed themselves.

They were dressed in black, with black masks covering their faces.

“Unfortunately, you woke up too early.”

The cracked voice, as if it were scraping against his throat, clung horribly to my ears.

“Reveal your identity.”

“Hmm. That’s not difficult.”

Unexpectedly, the man easily removed his mask.

“……Vermont.”

I could not help but frown when I recognized the masked man.

He was a vassal and one of Chloe’s main supporters.

He was practically the right-hand man of Roosevelt, my stepmother’s younger brother.

“Why are you here……”

“You’re really acting like you don’t know me today. Though, considering how you embarrassed me in the meeting room, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.”

Had Vermont had some connection with Irene?

Had Irene even formed relationships with any of the people in the family?

Questions flooded my mind, but I could not continue the conversation because the masked man had already approached and grabbed me.

“Mm!”

The man covered my mouth with his hand.

Vermont leisurely walked toward me.

He was holding something in his hand.

What is that? A syringe?

The moment I realized it was a syringe, an unpleasant chill ran down my spine.

“Mm! Mm!”

I could not even shout for help, much less say anything to Vermont.

In the end, I stepped hard on the foot of the man holding me.

“Ugh!”

As the man momentarily lost his strength from the pain, I grabbed the flower vase from the bedside table.

Smash!

The vase struck the man’s head with a dull sound and shattered into pieces.

“Ugh……”

The man grabbed his head and rolled across the floor.

Soon, the sharp smell of blood filled the room.

“What the hell is wrong with you today! Why are you rolling around on the floor?! Hurry up and grab this bitch!”

I tightly held onto a piece of the broken vase that remained in my hand and firmly stepped on the man rolling on the floor to pin him down.

When I bent down, Vermont’s gaze followed me.

“If you come closer, I’ll make a hole in this man’s neck.”

“Ha, this is absolutely ridiculous.”

Vermont opened his mouth wide, unable to hide his disbelief.

“Are you really Irene?”

For the first time, someone had begun to doubt my identity.

That was how unimaginable my reaction was to Vermont, who knew Irene.

“I assume you don’t carry your eyes around just for decoration.”

“That’s exactly why this makes no sense! You usually obediently give us your blood, so why are you acting like a mad dog today?!”

I carefully thought over each of his words.

She obediently gave them her blood?

“Did you come here to take my blood?”

“Ha, would I have any other reason?”

“Put the syringe away.”

“Damn girl…… Where did you learn such filthy tricks……”

Vermont grumbled as he threw the syringe and other tools in his hands far away.

At least it was fortunate that this man was someone who could be used as leverage against him.

“So, what are you planning to do? Are you going to stab that piece of glass into his neck with those delicate hands of yours and then kill me too?”

Vermont twisted the corner of his mouth.

“Oh my, your hand is bleeding. If you’re just going to waste it like that, wouldn’t it be better to obediently give us your blood?”

He looked at my hand, which had been cut by the broken glass and was dripping with blood.

“What do you use my blood for?”

“Why are you suddenly curious about that after ten years?”

Ten years?

For a moment, I felt as though I had been struck on the back of my head.

The fact that this man had been drawing Irene’s blood for ten years—and that I had never known about it—was shocking.

Suddenly, I remembered the needle marks and bruises on Irene’s arms.

I had simply thought they were marks from medical treatment and ignored them.

“For ten years…… What have you been doing with my blood all this time?!”

My stomach suddenly churned.

Could something even dirtier have been happening inside Mergen’s walls without my knowledge?

“Ha, what else could it be? It’s obvious. It must be because of that amazing power in your bloodline. I’m just someone who cleans up after others, so I don’t know the details either. Now that I’ve explained it to you, will you obediently give me your arm?”

Judging from Vermont’s shameless attitude, he clearly felt not even the slightest bit of guilt about what he had been doing.

“I don’t know why you’re going crazy today, but let’s not waste our strength on each other.”

Vermont took one step closer to me.

I pressed the sharp piece of glass in my hand against the man’s skin.

“Ghk, gack! S-stop! P-please, spare me!”

The man instinctively begged for his life, and Vermont stopped in place, his face hardening.

“You seem to think I’m joking.”

“……You’ve completely lost your mind.”